New Delhi, Dec 28 (PTI) To deepen health insurance in rural areas, Niva Bupa Health Insurance has joined hands with non-banking lender Swara Fincare offering to pay three EMIs of the borrowers in case they are hospitalised for over five days.

Niva Bupa (formerly Max Bupa Health Insurance) said as of today less than 20 per cent of the rural population has any form of health insurance.

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To address this gap, Niva Bupa Health Insurance is coming together with Swara Fincare to democratise health insurance in India, it said in a release.

As part of the Niva Bupa Xpress Health – Serious Illness Plan benefit, the insurer will cover up to 3 EMIs (equated monthly instalments) in a policy year of the respective customer in case of hospitalisation for 5 days or more.

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Niva Bupa said the rural-urban divide is significantly huge in India, which gets even more apparent when it comes to access to good quality healthcare in rural India.

Citing a report by the National Statistical Office (NSO) of 2019, it noted that only 14 per cent of the rural population had health expenditure coverage, out of which a meagre 1 per cent said they were covered by health insurance arranged by government/ PSU as employer/employer-supported health protection schemes.

Also, as per a report by Niti Aayog in October 2021, at least 30 per cent of the population or 40 crore individuals are devoid of any financial protection for health.

Krishnan Ramachandran, MD and CEO, Niva Bupa Health Insurance, said: "This association will enable us to expand our reach in the hinterland of India".

This partnership will give the company's customers complete peace of mind by assuring them that in case of any medical emergency, they need not worry about their EMI, Dev Verma, co-founder, MD and CEO of Swara Fincare Limited, said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)